November 8, 2006

Postmortem Thoughts

Three things have come to my mind in the (non-sleeping) hours since the Happy End-Of-Political-Advertisements Day. But only two are about the election for some reason.

Number One:Credit Where Credit Is Due

Even with the great Republican implosion, there is one thing that I must mention as being a good part of why the Democrats have retaken the House (and maybe Senate as well) this year. And in a very odd point for me, none of my regularly read blogs have pointed this one out yet: The Fifty-State Strategy. Howard Dean, the much-derided (by the GOP faithful) former Presidential contender tapped to head the DNC, created an effective strategy to a) keep everyone in the loop as to what is going on, b) energize the voting base and keep them that way throughout a very long slog, and c) bring significant amounts of money into the party coffers.

Admittedly, the strategy could not have performed this well without the second prong, recruitment of quality candidates for office. Yet compared to previous years, the national committees have been able to mount a respectable degree of offense instead of being forced to leave the vast majority of candidates to hoe their own row.

Whatever you may think about his past, whatever you may think about his politics, whatever you may think about the primal scream, Dean has proven himself as a good choice to run the party. Is he the quality of, for example, a Karl Rove when it comes to political manuevering? No. Few people this side of the temporarily-marginalized James Carville are that good. Yet he is just what the doctor (pun not intended) ordered to give the Democrats a good shot in the arm and a swift kick in the ass.

Number Two: The Door Swings Both Ways

I have never had the pleasure of blogging on the side of the majority. Like most of us on the left-hand side of the road, I started off in a time where every electable aspect of the federal government was dominated by the other side. I have not had the chance to simply sit and cheerlead from the sidelines, blindly supporting each and every aspect of my party’s governance.

And I still won’t. Doing so is not part of my philosophical makeup. I’ve had too much practical experience in life to curl up on a blog-based ivory tower and be a rah-rah-rah boy for Pelosi & Co. So when they screw the pooch in a spectacular fashion, you can rely on me to slap them upside the head with a rubber albatross. Repeatedly. And with as much fervor and enthusiasm as I have whacked, and will continue to whack, a good number of extreme conservative ideas.

But it will be kinda neat to play for the team in the lead for a change.

Number Three: He’s Not Done Moving Yet?

Unlike most of us on this blog, I still am a regular reader of Protein Wisdom, nominal home of the infamous Jeff Goldstein. With his recent escapades in the non-digital world, he found himself without enough time to give the blog what time it needs, and so has handed the reins of power over to a wide array of guestbloggers.

To be perfectly honest, I find those idiots driving me away from PW faster than Duncan Black’s senseless flagwaving and breast-beating is driving me away from Eschaton. I’ve barely cracked the page in the last three weeks, and even then it’s been only to see if Jeff is back to his old haunts yet.

Dude. Please. Come back. Some of us out here actually like you, not the ones you chose to substitute for you. And if you decide to not to come back to your digital homeland, instead staying with the folks at Hot Air… Let us know. As it stands now, PW will be the first recent casualty of my blogroll, even before Atrios rolls off into my digital oblivion. But that will all change once I can get my regular dose of armadillo stories again.